K-Day (8-10-2013): Trespasser in the Fog
by GeohazardMs
Summary: 17 year old James Ukeriah and his friends from Santa Rosa High School, forced on a Saturday school trip to San Francisco with prior plans to the Metreon Theater find their day go from bad to cataclysmic when a massive creature (Kaiju: Trespasser) arrives in the Bay Area. They'll have to avoid its rampage, face personal truths and survive disastrous hardships.
1. Chapter 1

Stuff to Know.

Pacific Rim ~ K-Day: Trespasser in the Fog.

First off, I loved Pacific Rim, and thought it was a welcome relief to the movies we see today, and I give it an A+. However, I found the trailer slightly misleading, and the first few minutes as a whole rather disappointing. The sequence with the first kaiju destroying the Golden Gate Bridge was the money shot for me, and I thought we were going to get a 10-20 minute Kaiju-attack prologue, a whole-lot of city-destroying epicness, and not the ridiculously short 3 minute prologue montage featured with only the golden gate bridge scene and brief one-second images of San Francisco's destruction (for friggs sake Trespasser didn't even have the same horrifying monstrous roar in the first trailer when we saw the scene in the movie, and that irked me).

In this fanfic, I want to add and expand upon K-Day, the events in the Bay area, and my own characters story. I've also taken the liberty of modifying the official stats of the story and the kaiju Trespasser (which do not make sense in comparison to the Golden Gate, even though physics in this movie are really out the window). Trespasser will be between 360-390 feet in height (determined in the story somewhere), and his path of destruction will be vast in comparison to both the movie and the comic. He will also retain his original roar as seen in the very first trailer instead of the weak metallic version in the movie. Trespasser was the first Kaiju to attack humanity, and the only one to cause the extent of damage and destruction probably only rivaled by Onibaba in Tokyo. I think Trespasser deserved far more screen time just to showcase the terror and immensity these kaiju could bring about, and I think this was a wasted sequence, quite frankly, however much I applaud the movie as a whole. All original elements belong to the makers of Pacific Rim, with creative elements by myself.

Synopsis-Seventeen year old James Ukeriah and his friends from Santa Rosa High School go on a Saturday field trip with his class to the science center in San Francisco. Needless to say, this fieldtrip takes a turn for the worst when a certain axe-headed kaiju arrives in the Bay Area. They will have to try and avoid its rampage and get back home, and the journey will be far from easy or forgiving.


	2. Chapter 2

Story POV: James Ukeriah (OC)

Date: 8-10-2013

The crap deal today was a damn Saturday school fieldtrip to San Francisco, in the friggin morning. I don't understand why the school couldn't have done the trip on a regular weekday, like Monday through Friday for example, not today! I like science topics and all, especially physical sciences; not on my personal days off though, especially when I got pre-set plans! Lucky me. Actually, lucky I got a few good friends along this excruciating bus ride, which will make the day bearable, if not entertaining to say the least...maybe. With me (James Ukeriah) were Kono Ifukube, Mitch Newton Williams and Midori Masura.

Intros:

Kono Ifukube is essentially our biggest goof-off in the group, the jokester and prankster of the period classes he hosts. A Japanese-American, lanky, fast and skinny (5'9, 130lbs), he could pretty much get out of any situation, and practices strange martial art styles I can't even pronounce. He was my first best friend, according to my parents; we've known each other since Kindergarten, and we've been friends ever since. I was victim to one of his little pranks every week, some funny, some questionable. In the end, he tells a mean dirty joke (without his strict Confucian parents knowing, ha ha), and I wouldn't have it any other way. He's also got a dry wit to match his eclectic personality, and has developed a love of life sciences and evolutionary biology. It's extremely entertaining to see him debate with the Creationist Club; he's picked up the "Christopher Hitchen's style of rhetoric in arguing the specifics of evolutionary biology, and he proudly boasts about owning all the works of Richard Dawkins and Ernst Mayr. His favorite animal is the Snow Leopard.

Mitch and I both share a love for sciences, except my love didn't cross into my personal life, as he let frequently happen. He acts like a jolly Morman, dresses like a blue-collar worker, and is a self-proclaimed earth scientist/physical geographer above all else (except a loyal friend). He wasn't a traditional nerd in science, as he also plays defensive tackle on the high school football team; ie he's a big guy. He's also somewhat naïve streetwise for all his textbook smarts and football, but comes in handy when other big guys want to mess with me and my buds. He routinely uses his immense strength just to protect Kono and I, well mostly me since Kono has martial art training. He doesn't anger so easily, so I pity those who make him mad, like his fellow football players that messed with Midori, his best friend and I suspect, his secret crush. He admires the works of Jacque Fresco and Buckminister Fuller, and is right now trying to become part of the Venus Project's push for a Resource-Based Economy, whatever that means. His favorite animal is the African Savannah Elephant.

Finally there's Midori Masura, a sweet but tom-boy little bomb of a teen girl. She is a South Korean/Japanese mix; I don't quite understand how that makes her a mix since new genetic studies indicate Japanese folk derive from Korean ancestry (Japanese mother, South Korean father), and is the toughest of the three of us, especially considering Mitch being a lineman, has routinely stated he would not want to be on her bad side (6'4 255 lb guy terrified of a 5'3 115 lb woman). Midori joined our group initially because she was ostracized by her original host group for reasons I still don't know; that took a toll on her sociable skills. Kono and I were unaware, but Mitch took some time to investigate, and gradually got her to hang out with us, and eventually, she went from shy introvert to the most extroverted and opinionated one of us. She has a superpower like Ricky from Trailer Park Boys in being able to talk her way out of getting in trouble most of the time; why she's gotten out of detention 20/21 times. In a nutshell, she's awesomely twisted in her own way. Her favorite topics are Cultural Geography and Marine Zoology, and she wants to become a Marine Scientist. Her favorite fictional characters are Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock series and Max Jerry Horovitz from Mary and Max. Her favorite animals are the Fennec Fox and Manta Ray.

Oh yeah, I'm James Ukeriah. I hate waking up early on weekend mornings. I'm not the most athletic of the bunch, even though I am relatively fit, mostly a hummingbird metabolism that keeps me lean like Midori. I'm a fanatic of old 90's music , mostly Alternative since I despise most of the music on the radio these days (except maybe that Radioactive song). I love watching shows like Trailer Park Boys, South Park; I recently fell in love with Moral Orel due to the nature of intensities and insecurities the show delved into. I'm the oldest in the group (17 years old, the rest are 16). I developed a hatred for the smell of rank pot (thanks to my cousin Colton smoking it around the house before my Dad threw him out), and enjoy the Sciences like the other three (except I want to get into Astronomy). I'm 6'0, 150 lbs. Probably Issac Asimov and Carl Sagan have influenced me the most in all the science stuff I read, Richard Dawkins for Kono, maybe Jacque Cousteau and Harm De blij for Midori, and Jacque Fresco and Neil deGrasse Tyson for Mitch. My favorite creature is the Tardigrade.

"Kono, why couldn't we just sleep in instead of going on this stupid trip to BFE? I was going to come down here anyways, and now they turn it into some god awful trip. WHY GODDMANIT!"

"Jesum-crawl James, I don't think you were loud enough. Try again, but just a register higher," Kono teased.

"Go fuck yourself Kono!"

"Jibun de seikō iku to you too comrade," Kono said with a smirk.

"I can hear you pillow-biters."

"Suck it Pacifica, I'm not in the mood." Pacifica smiled, sticks here tongue out and turns to the front again, just playing on her phone with her friends talking away. She was worst than your average snarky blonde-stereotype girl in class; she was hot and smart, and poked my buttons more than anyone else besides Kono, all in a fucked up endearing way. She wasn't quite the blonde to do cheerleading, but the kind to look like she did, even though her game was Track and Field, and for some reason likes studying Ethnomusicology and Physics (strange combo, I know). She and I like each other as friends, but we've had our little ballets of awkward interactions, especially since her mother passed away, and periods of overzealous comforting sometimes made things a bit iffy in our relationship. I still don't really understand what the hell is going on between us, buts it's a Tom and Jerry game to say the least.

"Relax James. We're still going to The Metreon Theater Complex later. We just have to deal with the Science Center for awhile, then your cousin comes by, we get escorted through town for twenty minutes tops, play some dumb-ass new pop songs, park, then see the new monster movie. Easy!" Kono said with a big smile.

Mitch behind us sang like Granddad from Boondocks, "Metreon, Metreeeawon, we goin to the Metreaoown! I've been waiting for this all year; a visit to the science museum will be an added bonus to this beautiful foggy day."

"Stuff it jerk-off! Anyway, we all got permission ahead of the time to meander on our own adventure; you, me, Midori and Kono are seeing that new movie regardless of our required time at the museum. Don't forget the sexy sci-fi tail that goes with those premiers."

"Sexy sci-fi tail?" Midori said. "Why the hell would I want to see any of that?"

"Were you being sarcastic Midori? I thought you were bisexual, you know, the way you stare at those Bigfoot blonds at school." Kono said in his trademark stinker poker face. He pokes his face over the front seat. "That includes you too Pacifica."

"Whatever Jackie Chan," Pacifica murmured.

"…I'm going to kill you slowly twink." Whispered Midori. She wrenched a fist and slammed down on Kono's head. "Those bitches on the Cheerleading squad think they rule the world; I just show them they aren't my boss."

"Owch..eh..you're right...Mitch is totally your boss." Kono said, grinningly like he won while rubbing his head.

Mitch interjected: "I resent that Kono, I hold no one as my property. However, if I did own you, I'd trade you for a Klondike bar in a second."

Midori yelled "BURN!...Wait, was that from Jeff Dunham?"

"Yep, just watched the Spark of Insanity special again. Love his acts." Mitch said.

"Eh, it's okay. I prefer Walter." I grumbled.

"You realize Walter is voiced by the guy who's holding him, right? You know, Jeff Dunham?" Mitch said, slightly perplexed.

"No shit Sherlock, but of the two on stage, I think Walter has more personality."

"Wow James...just...wow...HAHAHHAHAHA, that is some fucked up thinking! There wouldn't be Walter without a Dunham you know" Kono cracked out, with Midori and Mitch rolling over.

Mitch gagged out in laughter "There's that absurd bat-shit thinking style of yours James, really funny though, you've just made my day, and it's not even 11:00am."

"One day you three, I'll take the proverbial leap off the deep end, and I'll drag you all...eh..my fucking head - you know, I'm too tired for banter, just all of you...go fuck yourselves..wait….hang on, I'm getting a call on my phone."

Midori said excitedly, "...anyways, before we see the movie, I'm going to check out all that new gaming shit, maybe the new Bioshock game, then we get some kick-ass monster fighting in the monster movie "The Marina Trench." What were they called again? Kaiju? Yeah, that's it. They got this one that is dragon-like and spits damaging acid, one that looks like a gorilla with a rough leathery back, and one with a really sharp long nose; all these things are fucking huge, even compared to the monsters in Japanese films!" screeched Midori.

I got my phone out, ready to answer it.

"My mom calling? She's probably worried that I might breathe some sea salt or look apathetic to the world again. Come to think of it, I bet she's gonna buy me a copy of another friggin Chicken Soup for the [whatever] soul. I can bullshit my way through its tenets."

I stared out the bus window for a moment. "Shit, she's gonna ask where on the highway I am….Hiii mom. No mom, I'm way past Rohnert Park, we've just past Petaluma….we're heading for the California Academy of Sciences…Sciences mom…..yes, it's in San Francisco around the Golden Gate Park. What Highway I'm on? Crap, hold on." I turned to Kono.

"Kono, which highway is this?"

"Pretty strange question for your mom to ask, don't you think? Look on your cell phone man; check the Google Map GPS track."

"Kono, take you head out of your phone's ass and look at the damn highway sign out the window! What is it?"

"The only real highway heading south dumb ass. 101! We're going south through San Rafael right now."

"Did you hear that mom?...Yeah, I know we need to talk nicer to each other….yes, I get that reality isn't like South Park."

"It's much worst." Mitch said under his breath.

"No kidding." Midori coughed.

"Alright mom, I…I love you too. Remember, I'm going to the Metreon with cousin Colton after the trip, and Midori, Kono and Mitch are going to. Their parents know, so don't bombard them constantly….You're totally right…yes yes, brace for earthquakes, got it. Later mom, love you." James put his phone away.

"So James, that eh phone call with your mom, lasted quite awhile. Did you forget to ask her anything?" Kono said in a mocking voice.

"Actually yeah, I was going to ask her how hard I should bitch-slap someone for annoying me, but I figured I should just ... SLAP." I gave a slight slap to Kono's face. Kono smiled and said politely "Too bad you don't do martial arts; I wouldn't feel comfortable knocking you on your ass in public."

"Isn't it cute what those two have with each other Mitch, like husband and husband?" Midori said cheekily.

"Quite. A weird Porky's humor mixed with bromance; brilliantly ridiculous!"

The bus ride continued. The large yellow bus was spacious with jet-black seating. There were only twenty-five highschoolers and a teacher along for the ride. Four of them were us, and the fifth Pacifica. She drifted in and out of our group to her own group, which seemed more artificial than held down by any real true friendship, like our little gaggle of pals.

We passed up Marin City.

"Hey guys, I know this is kind of a stupid question, but is it really this foggy all the time in the morning? Midori said.

Mitch came in and gave a lecture on the Bay Area geography and radiative fog. Too early Mitch. Too early. This put Kono, Midori and I into suspended animation mode.

He was right though, it was unusually foggy out today. We could just barley make the spires of the Golden Gate Bridge towers, the lights on the top being the only indicators of its position.

10:11am. A long friggin day to go until Metreon time. I gotta hold out for longer.

5 minutes later…..

We're passing through Sausalito, went through the tunnels (Kono sneaked to the back of the bus, stuck a sign out of the window of the bus saying "HELP US, WE'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!" causing lots of car horns) and finally we were just passing Vista point. Bumper-to-Bumper on the Golden Gate Bridge. Stuck on that thing made me slightly uncomfortable. Worst yet was the idea of that bridge going down, that creeps me out.

Everybody was on their phones (no surprise there) or talking to one another about some useless Kardashian info. Kono was having a laughing fit from watching Fail videos on YouTube, Midori was playing games on her phone, and Mitch and I started talking about philosophy out of the blue; Free Will and Determinism .

"Think about it James. Does the fact that we can reflect upon our own consciousness mean we have free will? Mitch asked.

"I don't think that ability grants you the ability to be free. Maybe we have the will to be free, which is another poorly defined idea, but maybe it's a mix of the fact that we are genetic and environmental products with highly complex neurochemical activity," I answered, now really pondering the question. Mitch could push a conversation into territories that i had not thought of yet.

"Okay James, how about this then. Humans observe things, right? We observe things all the time, right through our eyes, or within our own minds. Essentially, what I would argue then is that we do have a possible proof of free will, through introspection, the inward perception of our own processes of consciousness. The fact that I can reflect upon my own thinking and go on routes I choose in my head would lead to a possible defense for free will." Mitch was really good; I came prepared too.

"Well Mitch, I would potentially counter-argue that nothing we observe via introspection really constitutes a proof that our internal routess were not the result of prior causes. Consider that a man holding an ice cream see's it melting. Chemicals, which are all biologically caused from internal or external causes, will influence his thinking to do something. His choice doesn't factor until he is conscious of his choice."

"Good point. Midori, care to share any colorful thoughts on this topic?" Mitch asked inquisitively.

Midori murmured like a zombie, "Can't talk! Must Beat RoboPrez Brain and Silhouette!"

"Kono, how about you?"

"I think you both need to drop it. You're hurting my head." Kono barked.

"Alright, let me grasp your points from my angle. From an evolutionary standpoint I think you have a point, but I have been reading a book on compatibalism-"

"Hold on a second Mitch, what was that?"

A bright light flashed instantly just out in the bay. We could see yellow and orange colors in the fog far off, and a fogged-up black cloud ballooning from the scene.

"Holy shit man. Is that a tanker?" Mitch said. "Great, some oil company asshole may have just caused a major environmental catastrophe in a hugely liberal state. We'll never hear the end again on all those fucked news networks-goddamn fucking Fox and MSNBC!" Kono grumbled.

"There's a tanker on the bay falling apart, and you're complaining about the news again? Damn Kono, drop it! Priorities!" I said highly perplexed.

"Fair enough, but still; Fuck'em! Ever see Special Bulletin? Made in 1983, more truth in an hour and a half of exploitive satire then most programs."

"Just don't watch news then Kono. Get it all from Infowars or Bill Maher, like you usually do," Mitch huffed out.

Everybody on the bus looked out into the bay now, lots of whoa's and damns. Barely visible, the ship looked like it was still moving towards the north end of the bay. Then it seemed to have split, with the back end rotating and being tugged all the way, the front end bobbling up and down. It looked like the tugged part ended up somewhere around Point Diablo still aflame.

"Wow, I'm not even paying for this. Hello Youtube video lists." Midori said, pulling her phone out and recording the events unfolding. We could hear small explosions and metal creaking; an eerie sound to say the least.

"This is pretty intense guys, can you believe what just happened? People probably died on that thing" Mitch said.

"Jesus Christ this is scary guys, how can you be so calm about this compared to the rest of us?" Pacifica shouted.

Kono said, "We need to keep our wits about us. That shit is going on down there, and I see no threat to the golden gate at the moment. The maritime authorities will most likely be dealing with this incident for a while. Still, holy dog shit man, you don't see something like this everyday."

"Students, listen up!" Said Miss Calcher, our 11th grade chemistry teacher. " In light of the current emergency situation at the bay, I have been contacted by the principle. This trip has been cancelled. The bridge is too clogged up, and we are only half-way to the south tower. We'll be turning around and returning back to the school to vacate the area. Call your parents and inform them of the situation."

I bawled, "I got up in the fucking AM for this shit? My life sucks! Our whole plan is ruined because of this."

"James, we can still go to the Metreon, just later today. We may have to take the Bay Bridge." Mitch said.

"We had a ride, we had it all planned. I've been wanting to go to this place forever. FUCK!"

"James, watch your mouth now. I know you wanted to go on your adventure, but please remain tactful." Miss Calcher said.

"Bag it up and throw it out the window, ya nun…what?"

Mitch was poking me, as if he had saw a ghost.

"Guys, I may be freaking out, but I just saw a huge formation sticking out of the water moving really fast. It just knocked over several fishing boats out there."

"Mitch, don't fuck with us. Especially right now. In fact, Kono is suppose to be the one pulling this kind of shit. Kono?"

Kono shot up from is seat. "Mitch isn't kidding James, I just saw a huge shadow in the water. You think whales are down there?"

"Midori, did you see anything?" I said.

"I didn't see shit, I was looking at that gnarly oil tanker fire on the bay…HOLY SHIT GUYS, LOOK!" Midori pointed out the other side of the bus' window. A squad of fighter jets came screaming from the east side of the bay. They pasted right over us, rattling the entire bridge and causing a lot of car alarms and screaming.

"HOLY FUCKING HELL!"

Everybody on the bus freaked out and screamed.

"That was close. What the hell are fighter jets doing out here right now?" Kono blurted out.

"They ain't pickling daisies. That's for sure. Look out on the east side again." Mitch said.

We all looked. The jets circled the bay one more time, before firing into the water just below the bridge.

"FUCKIN A MAN, THEY KNOW THERE'S PEOPLE ON THE BRIDGE RIGHT?" Pacifica shouted.

"This must be some old Transformers bullshit or something. Why are American jets firing in the Bay?" Shouted one of the students.

All of a sudden, a huge jolt rocked the Golden Gate Bridge. The bus shook extremely violently, and many of us were rocketed out of our seatbelt-less seats. The rocking didn't stop for about twenty seconds. I was sure the bridge was coming down.

I shouted to Mitch, "Check USGS and see if something is going down. We might have just gone through the Big One." Mitch gave the thumbs up. Miss Calcher, the poor woman, was sprawled eagle-eyed and trying to access the radio. One student shouted, "Put it on 88.5, Public Broadcasting."

Miss Calcher put the radio on.

"_..._…confirmed reports from the USGS that a 7.1 earthquake has just shaken the Bay Area region under the Golden Gate Bridge. That puts the epicenter of the seven point one earthquake right in the heart of the San Francisco Bay_._This is the same area that minutes ago saw an oil tanker explosion, and its subsequent pull by the current. Emergency dispatchers and maritime authorities are taking every measure in getting people safe from potentially dangerous zones. All individuals should heed the advice of police officers and the national guard on and around the area to evacuate the bridge. Local facilities. …" The radio cut off.

Miss Calcher yelled out "You heard it people. Get buckled up. We're getting out of here and going home."

"There are no seat belts on this bus." Said a student.

Miss Calcher yelled. "Sit your ass down!"

"On second thought, I can wait a little bit longer to go to the Metreon. " I said. Kono turned on his portable radio and listened for anything else.

Mitch leaned over to us, "Guys, the announcement still didn't answer why there were god damn fighter jets firing under us. That's pretty friggin important to explain, don't you think!"

Kono's radio gurgled some extra information.

"We'v...lso been getti... strange reports of something movi...nder the Gold.. Gat-."

"What time was that shoot-out going down James?"

Midori interjected. "I have 10:23am, so roughly about a minute minutes ago. Strange how they broadcasted that so quickly."

I leaned my head on the seat. "We just need to get the fuck out of…does, does anyone else hear water falling? Kinda like a waterfall?"

Kono trembled, "Jesus Christ, what's going on out there. LOOK!"

All four of us poked our heads out the window; the fog was still pretty thick, but you could still see a sizable distance in both directions. There was bumper-to bumper panicing on the bridge. It was loud with car horns, alarm sounds, the background noise of jets flying all over the place. The bridge was still oscillating. People started running from their cars as fast as they could, along with several police officers trying to direct everybody. Several cars tried to push through the backed-up lanes, only to either run in one another or abandoned cars or people screaming to get off. It was like the end of the world, a damn horror show.

Kono turned his head facing north. His face lost color. "We got to get off this fucking bridge, NOW!"

"What the hell do you mean?" Midori yelled.

Kono roared "LOOK FUCKING BEHIND US!" I wish I didn't.

A huge black figure cloaked by the dense fog was rising out of the water, with what looked like glowing orange lines all over its body. Orange hues glowing from its mouth, and had bright alien-looking orange eyes and a monstrously large axe shape on its head. It was near the north tower heading towards a span of the bridge.

"WHAT THE FU..…" was all Midori said before..

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARHGRHGHGHGAGAHAHHA!"

We all crouched over and covered our ears. The glass in the bus shattered. It was a the loudest and most terrifying thing I ever heard. The golden gate jostled a bit and moaned from the intense sound vibrations.

I thought to myself, "This day is really going to fucking suck, isn't it?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 2: READ MY CELL..!

Glass shards from the bus shrouded everything. Many of the seats and students were cut up and pierced. Some were shouting at the top of their lungs because they could barely hear anything; all our ears were still ringing from that dreadful oscillation north of us. A few students, the gang and I collectively, managed to cover our ears early enough to not get the full brunt of its roar. The bridge was still oscillating, and people outside were freaking out more than ever; cries everywhere, horns blaring, jets still screaming.

"WAS THAT THE JETS AGAIN!?" shouted one the temporarily deaf students.

"Are you kidding me" I said in my head, "that didn't sound at all like a fucking jet.

Midori shouted to me, "James, what's the time?"

"Why the hell is that important, Midori?"

"FUCK JAMES, GIVE ME THE TIME!"

"It's 10:25am, what's it to ya?"

We all poked our heads out the window for a moment, Midori the longest; we were looking at that thing just pacing the waters towards a span of the bridge, a low rumble coming from it.

Midori popped her head back in. "I figure we got another minute, maybe less to get out of here."

"Do we have a plan?" Mitch asked.

"Yeah, run like hell and don't look back" Midori shouted.

Kono got his backpack, jumped out of his seat. "We'll take the back exit. I don't trust everyone else staying calm when they look north."

"What do you mean Kono? I don't think anyone else knows what's behind us" I said.

A student shouted, "HOLY FUCKING A! LOOK NORTH GUYS!"

"Shit. That's our cue guys, let's get going." Kono said.

"RRRRROIAAAAAAAAAAERRRR"

That roar again, now everyone on the bus knew what it was. Miss Calcher was trying to organize everybody off the bus and get them assembled to evacuate the bridge. Good idea, but the students and a few teachers were still deaf and couldn't hear a thing.

"Guys, hold up!" I said.

"Get going James, I'm not above leaving your dumbass to swim!" shouted Midori.

"I'll catch up with you in a moment! Start going, I'm grabbing somebody with us." I said out of breath for a moment.

"Now's not the time to deal in lost feelings James!" Mitch yelled.

"Get going, you're wasting time. Don't worry, I'm virtually faster than any of you!"

"You got thirty seconds boyo, get your ass out of the bus in fifteen!" Midori shouted. Midori, Kono and Mitch snuck out the back, moving briskly. I moved over to Pacifica.

"JAMES, WE GOTTA GO!" Shouted Pacifica, urgency and fear crippling hear face,

"I know, but we have a ride out of the area. Just come with us, please! The others frankly don't know how to move in a disaster. We got ten seconds, please come with me, I mean us." I said in a mix of pressure and honesty as best as I could.

"I sure hope you know what the fuck you're doing!" Pacific sighed over. She grabbed her phone, looking at it for a moment.

"I sure hope so too! Let's go. We got tend seconds, and I don't want Midori chewing us out."

BBAAANNGG!The creature threw its arm at a span of the bridge near the north tower, then threw another arm, clawing and breaking at the road-deck and snapping several cables and lamp posts. People really started running and screaming, cars trying to push their way through.

"FUCK, LET'S GO!" Pacifica grabbed my arm, dragging me from this surreal sight; a huge creature was smashing through the Golden Gate Bridge.

We started running, multi-tasking and digesting the situation around us. Fog everywhere, cables snapping, metal crunching, screaming; we had to run!

"GUYS, WHERE ARE YOU!" I shouted as loud as I could. I held on to Pacifica's hand tight. The bridge was beginning to twist and flex, worst than before, and it was hard to stay on our feet. We passed the bus off, the students and teachers beginning to realize to run for their lives.

Car horns near the creature sounded like they were dissipating, steel girders crumbling, water splashing, sirens from abandoned police cars still screeching, and the screams; screams everywhere.

"WE'RE OVER HERE…RUN!" shouted Mitch, with Kono and Midori by a couple of crashed vehicles. We almost caught up with them, just a couple meters away. Then several of the near-by cables started snapping, flying erratically into the air, lashing cars and people. The bridge began to feel loosened and shifted violently under us again.

"JAMES, WATCH IT!" Pacific shouted. She pushed me out of the way of an incoming cable, right on my ass, inadvertently knocking my face into an open Honda Accord door. Out of a minor daze I could momentarily see the creature, what was like five seconds felt like an eternity; it had two huge arms with a smaller set of arms under those, all four glowing faintly of orange. They were clawing away at the road deck. One of the big arms looked like it was reaching for one of the main cables. It grabbed it, pulled it down and it used its axe-shaped head to slash it several times before snapping. The bridge really started to wane and wail.

"GET UP JAMES, COME ON, A LITTLE FURTHER!" Kono said. Mitch had managed to grab hold of me, we were all running, save for me since I got knocked silly. "I'M…I'M GOOD MITCH, LET ME DOWN!" Mitch let me down mid-run. "KEEP UP WITH US THEN" Midori yelled. We all ran, ran for our lives. Another cable snapped, striking a bus and flipping a sedan over. The main cable on the west side of the bridge started to sag, then retrograde-whipping large sections of the roadway, cars and people. We passed a red double-decker tour bus with a logo "Hop on Hop off" with people still on it that got knocked on its side by the whip-lash of the main cable, smashing several cars and its occupants under it.

"JESUS FUCK, THOSE PEOPLE!" Shouted Mitch. "KEEP GOING, THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR THEM!" yelled Kono. We were almost near the south tower. Jets darted over our heads, and we felt the intensity of their engines. They began shooting at the creature, and the bullets sounded like they were bouncing off of it. Several loud explosions happened, presumably jets destroyed by the creature.

"GET DOWN!"Kono shouted. We all ducked, as a downed jet cam careening over us into the oncoming lanes of vehicles still abandoned or crashed, causing more explosions; several bits of the jet flew right into several people.

I turned back to see what had transpired in the seconds with the creature and jets; there were only a few jets still in air. The bridge was leaning to the west, and now the creature reached one of his arms to the east-side main cable, pulled it down, and ripped it out of the north tower. Now the center span of the Golden Gate Bridge, cut near the north tower, with no main cable support, started collapsing.

"RRRRROIAAAAAAAAAAERRRR"

I yelled "FUCK! RUN GUYS! IT PULLED THE CABLES OUT. RUN, RUN, RUN, RRRUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!"

We avoided cars and people, fires, screams. We had one focus, get past the south tower, and keep going till we were no longer on the bridge. The road deck was falling quickly, and out tired legs began running along an ever increasing incline. It was almost five or ten seconds later did I realize I was running up a 35-40 degree angle. "MOVE OUT OF THE ROAD DECK AND GET ON THE SIDE-WALK" Mitch yelled. We moved to the east-side side walk; cars and people still in the main lanes started getting swept down by the pull of gravity. Pacifica almost slipped, but I managed to grab and pull her. The center span was almost gone into the bay, the north side faring much worst.

We saw an older women with a baby holding on for dear life; she looked like she was praying, cradling the baby while trying to hold on to the railing. She saw us, waved us down, and started muttering an incoherent language to us. "GUYS, PLEASE, STOP AND HELP HER!" Pacifica shouted, and ran ahead of us. Pacifica started speaking that same language, probably Spanish. She grabbed hold of Pacifica, was pointing to her ankle. She looked at her baby like it was her last time she would see it again, kissed its forehead, and shoved it to Pacifica. "MITCH!" Kono shouted.

"I'M ON IT!" yelled Mitch, and he grabbed the woman, and carried her fireman style. We were now trying to help these two strangers. Pacifica held on to that crying baby with all her might in one arm while I directed her along a path. Midori and Kono were keeping an open path for Mitch; we were trailing them. Almost there! Then the section we just came off of collapsed into the bay; we were on that section not two seconds ago. We were violently shaken, and we fell down. Pacifica fell down with the baby in hand. Her lower body was dangling off the edge of the bridge.

"FUCK PACIFICA, I'M COMING BACK, HOLD ON!"

"JAMES, TAKE THE BABY AND MY BAG, YOU'LL NEED IT!" shouted Pacifica. "KONO, GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND HELP ME! KONO!?" They were far from us, and couldn't hear us. "MIDORI!? SOMEONE!"

I started for the baby, grabbed hold of it, and grabbed the bag off of Pacifica. I tried to get Pacifica."JAMES, GET THE HELL GOING, I'LL BE OKAY!"

"DAMN IT PACIFICA, I CAME BACK FOR YOU, NOW FUCKING TRY! GET UP!" My eyes started turning red.

"RRRRROIAAAAAAAAAAERRRR"

The roar jolted what remained of that section of bridge. Pacifica yelled "GO GOD DAMN IT JAMES, SAVE THE BABY." She smiled a little and cried out "READ MY CELL….." The chunk of road-deck Pacifica was holding onto fell off, still a small smile still on her face, and a tear on her cheek.

"PACIFICA!…..PACIFICA!…..PACIFICA!….FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

I turned around and ran as hard as I ever could toward the tower, tears rushing down my face, holding onto that crying baby for dear life. She gave her life to save the woman's baby.

The last few people were running as fast as they could, trying to avoid falling off like so many others had. I could feel and hear explosions in the background. I was running at an incline the whole time till I finally reached the south tower, slightly leaning in towards the bay and moaning at the new stresses. I couldn't see Kono, Midori or Mitch. "Where the fuck did those assholes go!?"

"OVER HERE!" Midori shouted. They were behind a flipped Wonder Bread Hostess Delivery Van. "Fuck, thought we lost you for a seco…..wait, where's Pacifica?" Mitch said, slightly distraught, still holding the older woman.

"James, I thought Pacifica was holding the ba….."Midori stopped mid-sentence; she saw my face, dusted with cuts and blood, tear-stained. "Oh my god, James, did she…?" Kono asked with a whimper in his voice

"Let's get going… come on!" I muttered under my breadth, still holding the baby and power-walking. We could go a little easier now; this part of the bridge was a bit safer, though still insane. I led the way and they followed me with few interruptions.

"Hey James, can we take a quick break, I need to lie the woman down for a moment." Mitch spoke, aching at the arm he was carrying the woman on. I nodded.

We could hear the creature make one more roar before diving back into the Bay. We all shuddered. It disappeared into the center bay, smashing through the downed wreckage of girders, gas and cars still suspended into the lower bay waters. Pacifica was down there.

Jets were still in the air buzzing, screams and cries, police, fire engine and ambulance sirens wailing at full blast in the distance. Three minutes later we could see a huge crowd of people moving through and around the Golden Gate Toll Plaza Booths. We managed to avoid them by sticking to the sidewalk on the east-side.

The Bridge Round House was the first place we thought to stop at. We went inside near the windows facing We collapsed off out feet, immensely tired. Mitch pulled the woman down off of him gently, setting her on her back and cushioning her head on his jacket, Midori swiped some water and food from the café, and brought it back to us. Kono pulled his hair back, Mitch cracked his back, and Midori took one of her shoes off and shook out dust and debris, pulling a sock off to remove a piece of steel that got in there. I was still holding onto the baby, its crying dwindling down, and falling asleep. At least it could sleep with all this chaos going on.

"James, you should let the woman see her baby now" Kono said. I gently nodded, got up, and got next to the woman. Mitch nudged her, and Midori spoke to her. She groggily opened her eyes, seeing me holding her baby. She smiled gently and put her arms out to cradle her baby.

"¿Dónde está esa joven?" said the older woman, still holding and looking at her baby. She looked up and saw my face. Everybody now looked at my face, tears gently going down it.

"Oh,oh no..… Que ella sea en el cielo y vivir feliz." she said with a croak in her voice. I don't know what she said, but it felt soft and sincere.

Kono felt my pain right now. Mitch, Midori and Kono came over and hugged me while I broke down, crying and angry that I couldn't save her.

"I tried saving her….she was so desperate in making sure I get that baby off the bridge." I choked out.

"After all that, going back for her, ditching you guys to get her, and I still couldn't save her." I balled my fist up, punching the ground.

"Let it out buddy, your still with us" Midori gently said. "I WISH SHE WAS HERE INSTEAD OF ME!" I shouted. "WHY COULDN'T I SAVE HER!"All of us were crying a little, Mitch was trying the hardest to fight the tears; he was the biggest baby usually, but he was trying to act the strongest among us. Kono and Midori were holding me steadfast, trying to keep me balanced and not tip over.

Kono said "James, you and Pacifica did a wonderful thing. You helped this woman, and more important, you saved a life, a baby's life at that." I well understood what we did, that still didn't make me feel any better.

I was fuming in my head why she couldn't just be a few feet ahead of me. Then she would be alive, and I would have died; big fucking deal in the great scheme of things.

"She said something back on the bridge" I hiccupped from my throat. "….read my cell.' I stopped. Those words. I could still see her face and those milliseconds of her disappearing from the leaning tattered road deck. I got her bag, snug out of the group huddle, and pulled out, surprisingly, her phone.

"Kono, you think you can open this stupid thing?" I asked nicely as I could.

"Sure thing, give me a moment." He had it running in a few moments, then started scrolling on something, and thirty seconds later his mouth dropped wide open. "Oh my god." Midori said, she was peeking over the whole time, and saw what Kono was reading.

"What is it. What does it say?" I said pleading. Kono simply gave me the phone and said "Don't press any buttons, just press and scroll your finger up the screen to keep going down."

Kono pointed to the section I should read, and said it was made with a Dragon program that allows you to speak and the phone writes the words down. He handed me the phone. Midori hugged Mitch and Kono sat next to me, letting me read the text in silence.

"_I FUCKING HATE MATH CLASS! lol There, I got some stress out. Hey diary/journal, whatever, its July Wednesday 17__th__, 2013, 5:43pm. I'm getting better. My history teacher pulled me aside after class for a few minutes; longer story short she says time heals all wounds. I wish that were the case. It feels like the longer mom has been gone, the more I miss her. It was a hard month, for me, for grandma, and my loser fucking dad, who claims to still love her (leave mom for some woman on the internet is really droll Shakespearean style, the cocksucker….sorry, tangent). Anyways, hopefully no one ever sees this specific message (Note: delete when put on paper)."_

I paused for a moment; That was a horrible time for Pacifica, losing her mom like that. No child should have to deal with such a horrific experience.

"_June was the worst month for obvious reasons. July was slightly better, only because my Grandma and I became closer through mom's death, and it got a bit warmer outside. What helped me the most was the comfort of the awkward science student that cusses almost as much as me. James Ukeriah and I have never been close, even since elementary school. For some reason, he out of many others is the one that helped and comforted me when I was at my lowest last month. James went through this kind of thing when he lost his dad, so we related. He pushed me up, and gave me personal strength to move forward. There's still a lot of teasing and rough moments between us. It's sometimes hard to break out of my new social click but lately our relationship has been weird. Overtime we've been having strange brush-ins, one more awkward than the last. Lately I think he's been looking at me like he may like-like me. Maybe he notices me doing the same back. I don't know what's going on, sometimes it's like a fucked-up compilation of Adventure Time antics and Twilight drama. Either way, I can't deny myself personal honesty in how I'm feeling. I really really like James now, and not in the friend way. I think I may love him. Hopefully I can express this to him before I die (lol). I'll get back to this ordeal later. XOXO to myself ."_

I sat there, just stunned. I didn't think a girl like that could ever like me. That last bit was surreal and painful to read. I didn't cry as hard before; Kono just saw me stare blankly at the Bay, tears streaming down my face.

"I never got to tell her how I felt. I'm gonna have to live the rest of my life wondering what if."

Mitch came up to me and said "James, I'm pretty sure she could tell that you liked her. Who else would call you a pillow-bitter and blush?"

"She had a way with words. She was strong and smart, contrary to those bitch cheerleaders think of her. I guess deep-down I've felt this way for awhile. Now I can never act on it."

Kono, Midori and Mitch came back in and hugged me again as a group. The fog was still thick, but beginning to thin gradually. The woman looked like she fell asleep with the baby in her arms. I shouldn't disturb their peace, they looked too content.

Chaos still ruled the area, screams and cries, and the faint moaning of the what was left of the golden gate bridge. From our vantage point we could still see some cars and metal falling from the laning south tower road-deck; the north tower severely leaning with the east side main cable missing from its top connection. It was a unreal and terrifying. We just came from what was once standing, now in the bay.

Our personal tragedy was absorbing us personally. We must have just phased the outside world out. We could hear helicopters flying around the area now. I checked Pacifica's phone. 10:52 am. The day hadn't even started, and it turned out already to be one of the worst days. Almost killed with my friends, witnessing a fucking monster attack, seeing all those people die, and to top it off, the girl I fell for sacrificed herself and died. What a fucked up day, but at least we managed to save a baby.

I started getting myself under control, wiping my tears, brushing my face off with Mitch's shirt to his annoyance. I got to my feet.

"Pacifica was a stubborn-ass woman. She would try and press on. Come on guys, we gotta think about how we're getting the hell out of this place."

We got our packs on, stole some supplies from the Roundhouse, and prepped a plan to keep moving toward the east side. "We should call our folks to let them know we're alive" Midori said. They pulled their phones out, and made their calls. It was hard to watch them explain that they were on the bridge when the creature attacked, harder still for them to further elaborate that the whole class, save for us, was missing, presumably dead. They explained that we were getting a ride out of the area from my cousin Colton, hopefully.

I reached for my phone in my pocket. "What….where the hell is my phone. Damn it! I must have lost it somewhere on the bridge. Great. Mom's probably having a fucking heart attack not being able to communicate with me while this is going down."

I pulled Pacifica's phone out. I'll have to call mom through her phone. I started entering the 707 area code, when her phone started ringing. It said "Pacifica 2" with a picture of Pacifica smiling in a sexy manner. "What the fuck….I hope it's not her grandma or dad. God this is gonna be hard. Should I answer?...Fuck it, they need to know!"

I scrolled over the green icon and answered. "This is Pacifica Lumen Joyce's phone. This is not her, this is her friend James Ukeri-"

"HOLY DOGSHIT YOU ANSWERED. THANK GOD! WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Kono, Midori and Mitch glanced over. They heard the yelling clear from their spots across the way. I paused for a moment.

"Uhm, may I ask who's speaking right now?"

"WHO DO YOU FUCKING THINK? I FELL OFF A FUCKING BRIDGE TO SAVE A BABY. GET DOWN HERE AND HELP ME, NOW!"

"…PACIFICA?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: The Concrete Barriers at Fort Point.

"…Pacifica,….PACIFICA!?...GOD DAMN PHONE!" The phone went dead. The battery bar must have just died.

I turned to face the group, just about to head out with Mitch carrying the woman and Kono the baby.

"HOLY SWEET FUCK GUYS, PACIFICA'S ALIVE!" I shouted. "YES, YES, YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS! FUCK YEAH!BOOOYAHA!"

"No way man, that's unbelievable" Midori said. "Are you sure that's her?"

"She said she fell off a bridge to save a baby Midori. I'm pretty sure there are only a few people we know who've done that recently!" I grabbed my bag, took some towels.

"You know, she's gonna be pretty wet I figure; bring some clothes for her to change in" Mitch said. I started grabbing women's clothing (jeans, shoes, socks, undergarments, ect) and put them in a separate bag.

"Actually James, get her some guy clothing; it fits better." Midori interjected. Jesus, I don't have time for this. "Look, I'll bring the bare essentials. She can figure if she likes it or not, we'll come back here and do some free shopping."

They began sitting alongside the wall again. I was getting my things ready to head down to Fort Point. Mitch laid down the woman, and Kono, still holding her baby, crossed his legs to lay back for a moment.

"Kono, could you come with me? I may need some help."

"…Okay. Just promise you won't suck on her face for more than five minutes. We got lives to live you know."

"God dammit Kono"

"I know you get red when you get mad, but you're like royal flush red when you blush."

" …let's get going now. Midori, Mitch, hold the fort down for us-"

Kono interjected "-and if we're not back by sundown, call the president."

I said with an increasing smile, "You know Kono, ordinarily I'd say leave it to Kurt Russell, but, fuck it."

"Be safe you two" Mitch said. "Don't take all day pillow-bitters" Midori said. "Get her out of there. Wet freezing feet suck!"

Kono and I departed from the Gift Shop, swiped some abandoned bikes along the exterior, ran as fast as we could to a smooth down-hill trail that led closest to Fort Point and let gravity do its work. We were still so very tired. We still pressed on, regardless of our physical condition. I lost her once; I won't lose her again.

Along the way down the trails we saw many people moving up hill. Some were on their cell phones videotaping the remnants of the bridge and the overall scene of jets in the air. Many were crying and screaming, most everyone seemed to have been freaked out. Several people came up with individuals missing arms and legs. One woman looked like she was missing a chunk of flesh out of her leg. Several guys were helping another guy that didn't have any legs. Past these people was a woman, crying on the side trail, next to a limp child seizing out, followed by several people helping escorting her and her child uphill. It was so surreal. You don't know what it's like till you go through something like that, and it really hurts.

Kono and I could tell these were most of the lucky survivors; there weren't many; all looked completely soaked wet. Hundreds were on the bridge at the time, and I don't think many made it off.

"This is horrific. I can't imagine the level of trauma these people went through. …at least we got off the bridge. Why was the bridge clogged in the first place anyways? I know traffic was a bitch, but shouldn't traffic have really been moving, even when that tanker exploded?"

"I think I heard some people talk about a big car accident on the bridge while we walked to the gift shop. Suppose to have happened before the tanker explosion and everything else. Apparently two people texting got into some head-on collision by the toll booths, and that caused a huge accident, so traffic slowed down big time."

Kono scoffed "Figures. Texting drivers man, fucking assholes; they almost caused my Grandma to run into a damn Locomotive."

"You sure it wasn't because she's got cataracts like you?"

"Up yours James!"

We saw helicopters flying around what was left of the Bridge. You could see them hovering, shooting footage near the south tower pointing to what was once the center span of the bridge. A huge billowing cloud of smoke and fire came from the debris in the water; probably those oil tank trucks we passed up. Bits of brilliant red girders and cars dotted the surface, and some chunks of the span still seemed to have been still semi-floating, though from our angle, looked like they were slowly sinking. If anyone survived the fall and were still treading water on or near the sections, they would have to survive the suction from the debris sinking into the bay.

"You know, the world is getting a glimpse at just what happened, and news networks are going to become far more numerous in the area. Ratings gold to them probably. Fox and MSNBC aplenty coming up!" I shouted to Kono.

"I'd like to think that in principle they are trying to deliver information objectively. Yet I don't care for talking heads with opinions regarding a fucking monster attack. You get them on either side of the political eagle nowa-."

Kono shouted "Hold it James…I think we're headed for a cliff…. let's take a short cut through the bushes."

"Dammit..Alright!"

We kept moving down. We cut through shrubs, avoiding a mass of people now moving up the hill.

-11:03am

We made it to the Fort Point parking lot, scratched and bruised along the way. People had boats and lifejackets on headed towards downed sections of the bridge, presumably to search for survivors. In the background we could see some sea traffic near Alcatraz Island. Looks like the ferries were docking.

"….HOLY FUCKING SHIT JAMES, that thing is still in the bay somewhere. Totally fucking obvious fact, but it takes the wind right out of you when really fact it."

"Let's just find Pacifica and get back to the others….HEY! I'm checking along the riprap shoreline edges. You see if she's somewhere in the parking lot. Meet back by those concrete barriers in five minu…..Pacifica?"

There she was, laying against those concrete barriers surrounding that chain fencing, curled up and holding her phone. She looked extremely shaken and weak.

"PACIFICA! KONO, SHE'S OVER HERE."

I grabbed Kono's arm and ran for that spot if my life depended on it. There she was, alive, scared to fucking death, but alive.

I was now in front of her. I started tearing up I knelt down and gently tapped her knee. "Pacifica, I'm here. I see you."

She looked up, her whole body soaked to the marrow. Her eyes were puffy and red, her face partially stained with warm tears. She croaked out "Oh my god, you did not just quote that stupid movie!"

"Yeah James, that was lame."

I got down on my knees and just hugged her, a strange mix of smiling laughing and crying at the same time. "I suck at entrances, you know that."

We held each other in a tight embrace for almost a minute, feeling like my world was still worth living again. Warmth and happiness surged when all was lost, a sudden overshot of jollity flooded back.

"Gee, my watch got busted, but my instinct tells me that if you keep this up, you'll need to name your kids Doggy and Missionary…COME ON!."

"..okay Kono. James, let's get the heck out of here. I need to change out of these clothes into something halfway decent. I hate having cold wet feet."

"You know, it's funny that you mention that; Midori said you would hate having cold wet feet."

"James, you don't need to be a woman to know that's true in general for anyone. How would you feel if you fell over two hundred feet into freezing-ass water? It sucks!"

"Sorry. Anyways Midori and Mitch are waiting back up the hill for us. They're watching over the mother and baby-"

Pacifica panicked. "Crap, I nearly forgot them. How are they?"

Kono interjected. "They're both sleeping right now. We gotta get back ASAP. Don't forget that thing is still in the bay, and it could come out any minute."

"Let's go." I said intently.

We started leaving. Our bikes weren't going to do us any favor uphill, so we headed for the beginning of the trails. I was holding Pacifica's hand before she stopped dead in her tracks, and looked back at the Golden Gate. She just stared at it, or almost ten seconds. She wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Pacifica, a penny for your thoughts?"

"Let's not talk about it now James. Maybe later. For now, let's just…..oh shit."

"What?"

"Guys, look near Alcatraz."

We all stared at the waters near Alcatraz. We could see a large white boat, presumably the Alcatraz Cruise just about leaving the island, and a huge wave ripple moving fast, eventually breaking the surface, followed by a massive fin formation sticking out.

The back of the creature struck the ferry, and from our angle, looked like the ferry was tipped over. You could almost imagine the faint screams of the crowd on the ferry, possibly hear them were it not for the jets and chaos still bubbling around us.

The creatures back disappeared underwater for a moment. Then a thunderous noise rocked the bay. That roar again! Jesus! All the people in the parking lot just starred at the sight. We could see a huge axe formation moving on the other side of the island. It grew slightly larger, until finally you could see the whole creature, just smashing through the buildings and lighthouses on the island. Even though the island was far away, you could tell this thing was fucking enormous and terrifying.

We were in a trance.

This creature looked like it wasn't going to let up. Just a matter of time before it hits the mainland.

A squadron of jets circled really let it have it, with the same results as before; nothing. Luckily none of them were getting hit by the creature's enormous arms.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Pacifica said.

"You read our mind."

We booked it up a trail. We could hear the creature roaring and explosions happening. Only a minute later did we look at Alcatraz again and see the thing disappear underwater. It dived into the bay again.

"My phone is ringing...Mitch is calling, James, Pacifica, hold on!"

"Talk and walk Kono, we're flying the fuck outta here" I yelled back.

"Mitch, what's up?...HOLD ON! CALM DOWN!...okay…yeah..I understand. That was fucking intense out there, but it's back in the water…wait, what?...WHERE?...oh for figs sake."

Pacifica and I looked at Kono worriedly. What the hell was going on up there?

"Hey Kono, what's up with them, they okay?" I yelled back.

"HOLD IT JAMES, I'M TALKING….Sorry Mitch….Jesus Christ, fine, yeah, alright, we'll meet you there, it's not too far of a walk. Keep in contact, be there in ten, alright? Tell Midori that we found Pacifica…..I know, right, she's walking with us right now….I'll….I'll send her yours and Midori's regards. See you in ten."

"Kono, what just transpired?" I asked a trifle confused and worried.

"Guys, here's the breakdown. When we left, apparently the National Guard began evacuating the crowds by where we were, in a not so gentle manner. They took Mitch and Midori to a nearby location with other people. I told him we'd meet them there."

"Where's there exactly?" Pacifica asked.

Kono replied blankly "The Palace of Fine Arts."

"…last place I' peg the military to place people, but, okay. Let's meet them." I coughed, and then began walking.

"WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MOTHER AND BABY?" Pacifica shouted at Kono.

"Relax, Mitch said they were taken away in an ambulance when Midori found some help for the mother and baby.."

"Well, were they okay, they baby at least?"

"Pretty much Pacifica. The mother fell asleep last I saw her, and we were going to head on out before James got the call from you. He stopped dead in his tracks, started mobilizing like a cocaine user, then hooked me on this little adventure and-."

I interrupted "- the important thing is that the baby and the mother are alive and safe, with people who can properly take care of them. Now come on, we gotta get moving. No telling when that axe-headed fuck is coming back up."

The rest of the power-walk was slightly silent. We moved along Marine Dr. to the San Francisco Bay Trail, cut across Crissy Field, and ended up walking along Mason St. parallel the Crissy Field Marsh.

I complained "I wish we didn't ditch those freaking bikes man. My legs hurt like hell still."

Kono looked at us both, then turned his head forwards. He looked as though he was smirking for some god awful reason. Whenever Kono did that fucking smirk, something was about to happen.

"By the way Pacifica, quick thinking at hiding your second phone in James' pack before the shit went down. Oh, by the way, it's 11:10am, just keeping you posted."

"Kono, what the hell are you up to? I haven't hung out with you that much and I still know you're smirk means something. What's up?" Pacifica asked intensely.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all…Did James tell you he read your phone."

"FUCKIN-A KONO; SHUT UP!" I shouted.

Pacifica and I were both blush and flustered, and we moved away from one another slightly. Kono shouted, "Ah, come off it you two. You both really like each other, just kiss already. James, you've been given a golden opportunity to be with a women you lamented over, **NOW TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT YOU JACKASS**! Second chance, you may never get this again!"

I was ready to kick his ass, when Pacifica grabbed and hugged me. "Kono, I appreciate what you're doing. "

She paused for a moment. She looked like she was processing information like a computer, then spoke again.

"I think we both know we like each other. For now, let's just survive, then we can cross those bridges when necessary, no pun intended." She looked up at me, with that beautiful smile; I think she had a slightly chipped tooth, but that's pretty good for falling off a bridge.

"Thank you very much Pacifica. By the way, why do you have a picture of yourself on two phones?"

"It's not my fault that I'm so beautiful" she said with a little swag.

"You're so vain, you know that? Beautiful and smart, but vain" I said with a big grin.

"Yep.."

"Guys, quit blowing each other, I am around you know."

"Kono, get a girlfriend" I yelled. Pacfica joined in.

" …or boyfriend if you're into that."

"James, fuck you! You too Pacifica. In fact, fuck each other. I'm sure you want to!"

We all started cracking up now, the mood getting a little better, until we made it to the Fine Arts Palace. The street was full of people watching the bay or packing up their belongings and getting out of here. There was an ever-increasing stream of traffic jams in the nearby streets, with only one lane open, what looked like for military vehicles and personnel being mobilized to assist evacuation efforts. Relief tents and tanks dotted the area. Most everyone looked like they were either evacuating the immediate area or finding shelter in military stations.

"Call Mitch Pacifica. He'll direct us to where he and Midori are."

"Kay Kono….Hello, Mitch…Oh, hi Midori..good to hear from you too. Hey, by chance, where are you guys right now?...okay…we'll be there in a few..wha...no, I know where it is..Thanks."

Kono and I followed her; she had been to the Palace before, so I trusted she knew were they'd be.

There was a huge projector in one of the theater complexes, showing previous footage of the creature's attack on the bridge and subsequently on Alcatraz. Bulletins on the screen urged calm and orderly evacuations out of metropolitan San Francisco, particularly along the coastal regions, and to follow all local police and military authority throughout the region. The usual anchors for the 11:00 timeslot were not on, instead the main guys had the spotlight, talking with the cameramen in the sky and survivors on the ground. In fact, a camera shot showed us in the theater as a temporary National Guard instillation and relief shelter. A lieutenant on TV stated that many similar bases and relief centers opened up here and in the Presidio of San Francisco, along with Red Cross operating currently closed schools and and open hospitals in the west-most neighborhoods.

"DAMN, YOU GUYS TOOK YOUR SWEET ASS TIME!"

Kono muttered "Well, there's Midori, and Mitch will follow in three..two..one.."

"Jesus guys, I know the reunion could get emotional, but seriously. It's 11:17am. Did you take the scenic route? Oh, and greetings Pacifica, I hope you're feeling better now, and shall continue to do so."

Midori squeaked in "…big dork" before jumping in with "While you gallivanted off on a "save the princess trip" we were getting ganged up by the US military. It was fucked."

I said "Well, we're here now, so let's figure out what the hell we're gonna do."

"Best idea I've heard all day." Kono said. Mitch interjected "By the way, since we're on that topic, I called your cousin Colton. Apparently he was still sleeping and hadn't heard the news yet. Muttered something about never go on craigslist for "men for women" or something….anyways, I told him to put the news on; it freaked him out a bit. I've taken the liberty of also telling him to pick us up here ASAP. He's on his way now …about ten minutes away since the last call."

"Damn Mitch, that was pretty good thinking. I forgot all about Colton, in fact…GOD DAMN IT, WE WERE SUPPOSE TO GO TO THE METREON TODAY! FUCK, FUCK FUCK DAMN IT, FUCK SHIT FUCK!"

"Least of our worries right now James. According to the press and subsequent Washington posts, we survived a kaiju attack, kaiju defined as "strange creature" in lieu of that monster and robot movie we were suppose to see " Mitch said.

I huffed out "Well, makes as much sense as everything that's happened today. Let's just hang out I guess for a minute, eat some free snacks…god I'm hungry….watch tv and jet out of here."

"Actually, we're probably gonna have to sneak out of here." Midori said. "Something about not letting minors roam during a monster attack."

"Fair enough, but did you tell them that we have a guardian coming to take us, specifically you two, while we join?" I question.

Mitch looked at the ceiling, just pondering, then puffed out "They still are watching over us, for our "own good." I'm hoping Colton can do some convincing."

"Well, let's relax, we've earned it." Kono said. "Pacifica the most!"

"Absolutely right. Speaking of which, mind me asking just how your survived the plunge?" Midori asked.

Pacifica looked down, a troubled face brewing.

I stepped in "Guys, let's not push her, give her some time to collect and reflect on this alright. She's alive, and that's all that matters."

"…okay then. Mitch, Midori, you're with me, let these two loves have some time." Kono said. Midori and Mitch started walking away.

"…two loves…OH…they finally realized it?" Mitch said. "About fucking time" Midori laughed.

"..with a little push by you're truly of course." Kono smirked, then whispered to Pacifica and I, "Now I just gotta take care of them."

"What was that Kono?" Midori said.

"Nothing, let's get some of those vanilla wafers."

11:20am.

Pacifica and I sat down on a couch, just relaxing in each other's arms for a moment. We saw on the Fox writing "Creature moves faster than the government can respond!" and the host saying sarcastically "No, don't try and attack when it's in the countryside or out at sea, attack it when it's already in a city so you can do more damage and cause more deaths. Good job government, our tax dollars are hard at work."

"Man, couldn't they put on BBC news or Russian TV on? At least it wouldn't be biased?" I heatedly said.

"I don't know James. BBC is good, but RT is kinda a mouth piece for the Kremlin." Pacifica said.

"Eh, I guess. You'll always get some bias I suppose."

We just watch some more of the news. The playback of the creature the golden gate was extremely hard, so we left for a smaller room to hang out in.

"Pacifica, could I tell you something?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, when you threw that baby and pack with your phone to me, before you fell, I saw your face. You were smiling. What was that about?"

She paused, then chuckled a moment. "Strange, you don't tap into your true feelings until everything is about to be swept under from you in a second. James, I thought I was about to die. Seeing your face wasn't the worst way to go, and I smiled, knowing that at least I got the pleasure of freezing you in mind before I died, just one last time….James… come on you big baby…stop crying…you're going to make me cry again."

"Pacifica…that..that's heartbreakingly beautiful and serene. I never could fathom how deep you could be."

"I could never fathom how dense you are sometimes, but we get there "she laughed out.

"True to that. Seriously though…do you mind if I ask how you did survive?"

"Nothing much to tell. I must have hit a pocket of water that had a lot of air bubbles. It's still kind of fluffy in my head, but the fall was quick, then the water, freezing fucking cold..but full of bubbles. I'm guessing some debris fell before I did and sank fast enough for me not to hit the water like concrete and die."

"Awsome." I said.

"Hold on…there's more to this..I need to get this off my shoulder." She looked away at the entrance, just watching the foot traffic.

"Remember when we were leaving for the trail and I looked back at the bridge?"

"I remember that."

She continued hesitantly. "Well, the fall didn't kill me, but I couldn't swim, so I struggled to rise up when I realized I was still alive. I couldn't see anything, but felt horrible things James. Bodies. When I surfaced, I saw people still in cars, struggling to free themselves, just sinking, hands making bloddy marks in their busted windows, yelling. One was just fucking horrible…I saw several people struggling from some cable wires, like they were cut into the cables, partially limbed. The worst…"

Pacifica choked a little. I held her hand. "You can stop if you want to.."

"NO! I need to say it….okay…I saw a bus. It was sinking. There were some guys on a boat out there trying to help them..I kept hearing "TAKE MY CHILD" and I saw this little girl get pulled through a small broken window. I didn't see anyone else get off that bus before it just totally sank. Then I grabbed onto some floating debis..a kayaker rowed to me, told me to hold on, and he paddled me out of there."

"Jesus Pacifica…I'm….so…come here."

I held here in an embrace, told her to let it out. We just sat there, embracing our hardships together.

11:24am.

"THERE THE FUCK YOU TWO ARE! COME ON!" Kono yelled at us.

"WOAH, the hell's going on?" Pacifica hollered.

"Yeah, we were kind of having a moment!" I said, extremely annoyed.

"THE FUCKING KAIJU CREATURE THING…IT'S ABOUT TO COME ON LAND...HERE IN THE MARINA DISTRICT!" Kono roared. I looked up in the air and closed my eyes for a moment.

"**GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!"**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Meandering Around a Kaiju

Pacifica dragged me to my feet. Damn it! Every friggin time something always seems to get between me and her having a good moment. We caught up to Kono, now watching the projector with Mitch and Midori, the news coverage just breaking.

"…that's right Clint. It is now officially confirmed from previous mixed reports that the creature capsized the Alcatraz Ferry and continued on destroying the facilities on Alcatraz Island. The creature is now reported swimming westward along the coastline, moving towards the Marina District. Okay, we are going live to our Fox-affiliate aerial reporter Vern Stamphill in San Francisco right now on Fox-14 chopper, are you there Vern?"

"Ah, yes, I'm here. This creature is moving so fast. It's enormous, and so far aerial attacks by the jets have not been able to deter it from its path. CARL, FOCUS THE CAMERA ON IT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE…sorry Janet...the creature is moving parallel along the coast waters...oh my god.!"

We could hear his voice crack and quack. "Vern, Vern what is it, is something happening..oh my god!"

The camera zoomed in on boats still out in the water, people trying to either out-gun the creature on their boats or zoom back to the coastline quickly.

"Janet, there are people still on the water; there's a lot of water traffic down there, many of them being smashed by this thing. The creature is making waves that are inundating the boating docks. I can't believe people are still down there. This is a horrific sight."

"Vern, can you tell if the creature is going to make landfall anywhere? Is it heading for any specific spot?"

"I don't know Janet….the creature doesn't seem to being heading for one specific location, it just seems to being meandering in the waters all over the place right now, but in a westerly direction. It looked like it was going to make landfall in downtown San Francisco earlier after Alcatraz, but it instead swam towards several large ships and rammed into them, capsizing those ships and proceeding with a changed course. It's swimming along the coast right now… it's moving fast, really fast. Only its back formation and parts of its axe-like head are sticking out of the water…GOOD GOD, Janet this thing is enormous…. People need to get off the water NOW; it just flipped several fishing trawlers headed towards Alcatraz. I think they were trying to help rescue people from the ferry; now they've all been capsized!"

I felt Pacifica's phone vibrate in my pocket. It was her grandmother. "Hi, this is Pacifica's cell phone, this is James Ukeriah….yes..no, NO, Pacifica is with my friends and I right now. Here she is, one moment please." I handed Pacifica the phone, she went to another room to talk. "She thought we were doing dirty things-I don't think she's seen the news yet" I said. "Thanks James...maybe in due time" she whispered, and left for the other room. I was left with a chili pepper face, and Kono smirked at me a little.

"Vern, is there any rescue assistance being afforded to those on Alcatraz? For those people still trying to get out of the Bay waters?"

"Janet, I've been told, and this is speculation, that the majority of resource mobilization has been focused on putting out the oil tanker blaze around Point Diablo and the search/rescue operations for the Golden Gate Bridge survivors. Alcatraz has not been getting a major focus as of yet. However, after the creature attacked Alcatraz …. Janet….Ja…anet, are yo… th..e?"

"Yes Vern, I read you live, you're still with us."

"Good, had some static back-feed. Janet, we saw about three U.S. Coast Guard helicopters head for the island after the creature destroyed the facility. I haven't seen any rescue assistance for those fishing trawlers or boats along the coast though, and none for those capsized ships near the downtown district- they may be on their own….. Wait…JANET, right now the creature is approaching the Pavilion Piers; there are still people on them, looks like they're watching, taking pictures..CARL, GET ME THE MEGAPHONE…HEY! HEY! GET THE HELL OUT OFT HERE, IT'S COMING YOUR WAY, GO FOR COVER! IT'S COMING YOUR….oh shit!"

We could see the creature swim head-first and smash into the three piers live on television; people still on them were smashed and swept into the waters with the piers.

"Janet, you just saw live footage of the creature smashing through the Pavilion Piers like they were nothing. This...this is an extremely dangerous organism and an extremely dangerous situation. We'll keep you posted and have constant live footage stream of the creature's whereabouts for as long as we can."

"Kono, I thought you said it was about to make landfall here?"I said slightly horrified by the sights but still retaining my composure.

Kono replied in a huff "I thought it was James. Like the chopper guy said, this thing keeps changing its trajectory every which way, so I don't really know now. I got a bad feeling though. Pardon me Mitch, could you call Colton, ask him where he is. I want to get the hell out of this area." Mitch nodded his head and got out his cell.

"I don't blame you. Ever since the bridge, I don't really feel safe in the city" Midori chirped over.

There were multiple sources of news coverage playing in the theatre; live interviews with local leaders, a broadcast on MSNBC of the California governor Jerry Brown declaring a state of emergency for the state of California and ordered full evacuations of the San Francisco Bay Area and outer city limits. Some live footage of downtown San Francisco from CBS and Fox showed a massive surge of US military troops and National Guard units via the new bay bridge and airports, including large numbers of Military vehicles. We could easily see over one hundred M1 Abrams and M60A3 series coming into the bay along with over two hundred attack helicopters, M113 armored personnel carriers and strykers, over twenty Dragon Fires, many M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, the whole lot, and more was reportedly on its way.

Obama's response was becoming full-center by the news media (as opposed to reporting the events, now it was how Congress was going to react). President Obama was earlier in a UN conference on Climate Change in New York, having addressed an IPCC panel of scientists on how he'd pledge the US would attempt to do its part in reducing the world's carbon footprint. Now he was apparently finishing up an emergency conference with California leaders from the UN building via Skype, pushed the immediate mobilization of a massive fleet of military personnel and hardware to the Bay and was last reported taking Air Force One to see what was transpiring aerial-wise. Reports indicated he was somewhere over the Appalachian Mountains at this time, with constant communication with Governor Jerry Brown.

Mitch wasn't able to contact Colton. He put the cell phone down for a moment and spoke solemnly. "As much as I love this sight on TV, it's probably not going to stop it." We turned to Mitch, slightly shocked at his statements. Typically he was the most optimistic one of us. "Maybe they'll redirect its attention, which will undoubtedly save lives, but once it comes into the city, nothing short of a nuclear bomb is gonna work."

"You don't know that Mitch. The military can probably do some damage to it. Damn man, be rational but have some faith." I said.

The channel news coverage we were watching was coming back with a live feed of the creature. Pacifica came back; her eyes were slightly red and puffy, probably telling her grandma the events that transpired earlier.

"-just in folks, our Fox-14 chopper is reporting new activity from the creature. Vern are you there? Vern?"

Their video fuzzed on. The camera man Carl was filming Vern run like hell. The camera then turned around, focusing his footage on the Bay. We could see the back formation of the creature rise up, along with the rest of it in a massive wave. You could almost see its glowing eyes from under the mass of water it lifted up. Carl was juggling the camera violently into the chopper.

"Oh my god?...Hello, Vern? Vern? Carl?"

Static, then the audio feed came back.

"..OLY SWEET SHIT, GET INTO THE CHOPPER CARL! HURRY GOD DAMN IT!FRANK, TAKE OFF TAKE OFF TAKE OFF TAKE OFF!"

The camera man was filming as they ascended near a fancy looking building called the St. Francis Yacht Club. Behind the building in the waters we could see the creature in its terrifying glory; its orange glowing eyes and orange luminescent patterns, its dark charcoal- maroon color, its multi-arms, and that fucking axe-formation on its head. It was ankle-deep in water, looking at the Marina district, then focused its attention to the chopper, and then….

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARHGRHGHGHGAGAHAHHA!"

"….This, this is the creature. Oh my god. Vern, Vern , what's happening Vern? Carl, Carl can you report? "

"Janet, this is Vern! We're getting in the air right now. We landed on a grass field by the St. Francis Yacht Club to fuel up, when the creature started rising out of the water. Oh MY GOD! Thank god Carl was still filming the bay. We thought it went underwater, but Carl caught a glimpse of it rising..."

When the camera focused on the thing's head, an explosion enveloped it. It clawed its face; above it high in the air a massive squad of jets started firing on it.

"This thing is now being bombarded by the fighter jets for a third time. They're going at it with everything, and nothings working. FRANK, WATCH IT! DERELCT MISSLE! The jet's missiles are either exploding on the creature or ricocheting into multiple directions. One just landed in the Yacht Harbor and destroyed several boats. Janet, this is it. It's trespassing now into San Francisco, and it's going to come in through the Marina District. Oh my god, it just smashed through the St. Francis Yacht Club, and it's moving through the Yacht Harbor towards... FRANK, MOVE THIS THING. HOLY SHIT, IT'S COMING AFTER US. IT'S FAST AS HELL! JENNY, IF YOU'RE WATCHING, I LOVE YOU, TAKE CARE OF OUR LITTLE GIRL, GET OUT OF THE CITY; FRANK MOVE IT! MOVE IT..OH SHI…" **SMASH**, the creature's claws enveloped the camera screen, and swiped the chopper. "WE'RE GOING DOWN, WE'RE GOING DOWN. JENNY, CLARA I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE..OH SH...FU…."

The audio on the camera went dead, we could still see live video, their terrified faces, the chopper flying erratically, quickly getting a glance of its head, then of where it was heading for, the Palace, where we were.

"JESUS- GET DOWN GUYS." I shouted.

We dropped under the projector stage, and not two seconds later the chopper came crashing through the roof into a crowd by the projector where we just were, smashing up people and equipment, exploding. Several people were disemboweled and severely burned. We were lucky to get only cuts and burns.

"Kono, Kono, man get up, we got to get out of here." I shouted, he looked like he got knocked out by debris. We could still hear the audio from the projector, now in shreds.

"For…for our viewers right now, we've lost our live feed of the events unfolding in San Francisco from our chopper. We will patch in to our affiliate feeds and….OH GOD…Vern, Carl….Frank, I'm so sorry, may god bless your souls and your families." She broke down. "I'm sorry you had to witness these events ladies and gentlemen. Hopefully you now understand the gravity of the situation...We are now going live with our CBS counterpart for the latest development. George, George take over, I need a minute."

Janet left her spot at her desk, and the other anchor, George, took her spot.

"We…we will be switching to our CBS counterpart in a moment, and posting all evacuation routes out of the area to nearby relief centers. Jim, Jim you're set to go live."

11:43am

"I told you, I fucking told you. We're getting the fuck out of here NOW. With or without your buttfucker of a cousin James" Midori screamed.

"Mitch, try calling him again, otherwise, we're on our own!" I shouted to him. The whole Palace was in disarray. Pacifica was shell-shocked when she saw those gored people lying on the ground. She was frozen, motionless; Mitch was trying to wake Kono, and Midori and I were trying to assemble the group. "Pacifica, come on, let's go!"

She was tearing up again. "Those people…"

"There's nothing we can do. We gotta go!" I shouted.

We exited the Palace, people panicking, cars and traffic honking loudly, National Guard units trying to evacuate as many people as they could, jets flying over, and tank units were moving just south of our location to get a vantage point by the pond. A large column of black smoke was billowing from the center of the Palace Theater complex, slightly shrouding the famous Rotunda dome.

We could hear Mitch trying to get a hold of Colton. He started talking, leaving an unnecessarily tactful message, and then I grabbed the phone from him and shouted into the cell.

"HEY ASSHOLE, WE ALMOST GOT KILLED, AGAIN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? …. ANYWAYS, if you get this message and are still planning on picking us up, we're south of the Palace now…..Midori, what's that sign over there say?"

"It's Lyons Street James. Is Colton even here yet?"

"I'm leaving him a message; Colton, we're on the intersection of _Lyon and Bay St_ south of the Palace, across the street from a gym. HURRY THE HELL UP!" Click.

Mitch was carrying a knocked-out Kono, Midori was messing with her phone to try and have a constant video feed of the creature. Pacifica and I were trying to watch for Colton. Lucky bastard would be coming in a yellow camaro like the Bumblebee car from Transformers, so he would not be hard to spot.

"Guys, I got a feed, the new guys got live video of it smashing through the Yacht Harbor." Midori shouted. We crowded around her on a bench by the pond. We saw

"…urge anyone still in the area to evacuate to a designated safety zone or out of the city altogether, preferably south. Travel is advised along army-issued evacuation sites. Now Janet, after smashing through the boats in the harbor, it's climbing onto land at Scott St. There are boats falling off the creature onto Marina Blvd….It's now crossing Marina Boulevard and….it's just stopped, on the Scotts and Cervantes intersection. A few more boats have just fallen onto the road and onto cars and homes... It's looking at the whole city, like a vulture moving its head. It's just standing there..."

Our eyes were glued to the phone screen. It wasn't doing anything but breathing and flexing its arms a little. It looked like it was taking in its surroundings. Now 11:45, it stopped at the intersection thirty seconds ago.

Then, something happened. The orange lines on its body and mouth started glowing extremely bright, causing its whole body to glow like a massive fire. Then, as suddenly as its glow came, it vanished. The creature then bent its pointed knees a little, then, arched its head and back backwards, then…..

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAARRRRAAAAAAAAAARHGRHGHGHGGHRRGHGAGAHAHHA!"

It was the loudest one yet, vibrating the whole of San Francisco. It sounded like a massive bomb just went off next to us, shattering nearby windows and inducing more chaos. We looked at the screen, and saw the horror; the creature was now marching through the streets. It was moving south along Scott St, destroying homes and crushing cars and people still swarming the area. It was now officially in the populated areas of San Francisco. You could see little figures moving, people, then disappearing under its feet. We saw several moving cars get stepped on or slammed into the resident buildings it was walking through. Kono woke up as we were watching the events unfold. "Holy… sweet …hell…it's in the city now? I new it was going to come though the Marina District!"

"Lucky guess Kono. That thing is less than a mile away. We need Colton right FUCKING NOW, or I'm stealing us a car!" Mitch asserted.

Midori put her phone in her pocket. "You can see it guys, come over here." Midori shouted over to us. Both Midori and Pacifica ran to the far side of the street to stand on a flipped-over dodge charger near the pond, past a weeping willow.

"There it is; its axe-head and upper body anyways. It's really close. You can feel its footsteps when it hits the ground."

We joined them on the top of the car. Midori pulled her phone out again and got the unfolding scene on her camera. A local news van was down the street, taking ground footage of the devastation happening several blocks away. We could see police cars driving like hell to get over there, and civilians getting the hell out of there; what followed was a surge of cars and people. Several cars came screaming down the street we were on, well over 60mph. A couple down the street collided into other moving cars, and one into a military Humvee. Then, the sirens.

The San Francisco Outdoor Warning System started blaring over the city, around 11:48am, but the sound was different; it sounded like a nuclear siren, lower and rougher…then the audio as we could make out: "ATTENTION, ATTENTION...THIS IS NOT A TEST OF THE OUTDOOR WARNING SYSTEM, REPEAT…THIS IS NOT A TEST OF THE OUTDOOR WARNING SYSTEM. A LARGE CREATURE HAS MADE ITS WAY INTO THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO..."

The message continued, with instructions to head as far south as possible or to head for shelters being established by the National Guard. It was really loud from our angle. Mitch turned around and saw a siren atop the Palace blaring away with the messages and another siren echo; then it ended.

"Jesus that thing is loud, almost as loud as-."

"Guys, I got some more news on my phone, listen…"Pacifica interjected. We crowded around.

"-the creature is moving between what's left of the Scotts and Avila street residences; now its moving west along North Point St, it just smashed through the Claire Lilienthal Elementary School…"

Good thing it's a Saturday.

"… it's turning now, northeast along… moving through Scotts and Prado St onto Cervantes Blvd. It's moving so quickly now; there are still traffic jams and people down those neighboring streets."

"Looks like it's heading for the other side of the Marina District guys." Pacifica said over the broadcast footage.

"So it seems..." Mitch said, a slight unknowing detectable in his words.

"God, I really wish that asshole of a cousin you got hurried." Midori huffed over. "We're gonna be dead before Colton's even half-way here."

"It's changing its path again" Pacifica shouted to us. "Look."

"…moving west along Alhambra St, cutting through the intersections at Pierce, Avila, Scotts. It crossed into Francisco St and into a neighborhood, and is now tearing apart the neighborhoods between North Point and Bay St, still moving west."

Next to us, the military hardware we saw earlier started heading down the street with a couple humvees and strykers. I overheard one of the soldiers saying "…taking the tanks and making a blockade along Broderick St between Bay and North Point. Might slow it down to give the evacuees some time."

Mitch looked at his personal map of the Bay Area. He was estimating the thing's trajectory on paper. Then all of a sudden he leaned over and puked his guts out on the Dodge Chrysler tire. "Ble..guys, I don't want to sound any alarms [spit] but, [spit], its moving our way, right now, really fast." The squad of military hardware was now down the street.

"You got to be fucking kidding." Pacifica groaned out. Just then several explosions from the distance erupted. The military on the ground was engaging; it looked like its upper body was closer than ever to our location. Mitch was right, it was coming this way, thundering footsteps shaking the general area every few seconds, like a continuous small earthquake.

The firing looked like it was doing nothing to stop it, actually making it more annoyed. We switched back and forth from watching the live action and the phone footage. Midori saw something in the air, a tank clawed by the creature swiping the military with its tail. "Shit, SHIT, THERE'S A TANK COMING OUR WAY!" We jumped off the Dodge Chrysler, and saw a huge metal flaming thing coming right at us and smashed through some homes along the street. Midori and I ran across the street and crouched next to a house; Kono, Mitch and Pacifica dove in the pond; it skidded on the street and settled on the Dodge we were sitting and standing on not a second later, completely aflame now and leaving a crater in the street. I poked my head out from some of the home debris; part of a soldier's lower charred body was loosely dangling by a few broken straps from the tank.

Pacifica, Mitch and Kono got out of the water, and shook off.

"This is like the fourth thing we've avoided being crushed by today" Kono said.

Pacifica yelled into the air "First jets, then choppers, NOW TANKS. FIGURES, MURPHY'S FUCKING LAW, EVERY TIME! IT NEVER FAILS! EVERY FUCKING TIME!I'M SICK OF IT GOD DAMN IT! I WANT TO GO HOME."

I spoke up "It goes without saying that we're sick of today. As it stands though, it's far from over. We gotta stick it out till we make it home." All nodded, Kono and Mitch shaking their clothing and slightly squeezing the water out.

Pacifica whimpered out "I know, I know. I'm fed up. Sorry to burst, but I've seen enough fucked up things to la…"

Massive explosions and metallic bending sounds interrupted her from down the street. We felt the heat of the explosions from our location. We saw a city bus and several emergency vehicles careen off the road into the grassy area when cars and bits of tanks and humvees flew in their direction, along with most of the neighborhood; overhead we saw a black plane scream above us high in the air, maybe a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. Out of the air explosions popped a large axe formation, followed by the rest of the creature, staring down our street, then at our general area, us.

Kono huffed "Oh Fuck me." "It's coming, it's coming, we gotta move, NOW," Pacifica shouted.

It travelled towards us, building speed with every step. We were panicking, trying to decide where to go. It moved fast; we had maybe fifteen-twenty seconds before it got to us. It kept moving erratically around the end of the block until its clawed toes came smashing through the upper few stories of what was left of the houses down Bay St (the one we were on). It was now mere hundreds of feet away from our location.

Midori shouted "MANHOLE, MANHOLE!EVERYONE CLIMB INTO THE MANHOLE!" There was a manhole cover between Lyons and Bay St. Only sort of protection we could find.

"Dammit" Kono shouted. "We're gonna smell like New Jersey when we die? That's fucked!"

"Shut up Kono! Mitch, take the manhole cover off!" Mitch grabbed a stray piece of twisted metal and unhooked the manhole cover off. He pointed down, and we started climbing, Kono first, Midori second, Pacifica third, me fourth, then Mitch. Mitch stopped, his head poking out of the manhole watching, like he was in a trance. The ground all around us shook. When I looked up under Mitch's feet, I saw him duck as something looking like the city bus that careened off the road a minute ago came flipping just above his head, followed by a black clawed-looking thing. He dropped down, and the cement around us cracked. Then everything went black-no light.

11:51 am

"Are we still alive?" Kono whispered.

"We're under its foot. UNFUCKING BELIVEBLE!" Mitch shouted

"At least we're not dead, I think! Midori, you're fucking awesome!" Kono shouted. Its walking violently vibrated the ground around us. Old chunks of brick were falling, bits of concrete cracking, and the metal bracing was moaning severely. Mitch and I were still latched to the ladders leading to the surface. He got a face full of dust and debris. I got cut by some debris that just happened to have missed him and hit me square in the face; now I had a massive bleeding gush on my cheek, probably will scar. Then the light came back. The thudding continued, and then water splashing.

"I think it just went into the pond guys" Pacific said. "Probably safe to get out now. Kono, no offense, but you need some deodorant on, and move your arm; my boobs are hurting."

Kono said "None taken. Would you like a stick of double mint gum for your breath? By the way, nice C's!"

"Shut it you two. Both of you smell like scum pond water anyways. Mitch, Let's get the hell out of this shitty place" Midori shouted over.

Mitch peered his way out of the manhole. "In more ways than one….JESUS CHRIST GUYS! Looks like an atom bomb went off up here!"

"Still better than down here" I shouted. He got up, helped me out, then we helped everybody out. The scene was cataclysmic; the whole block of houses on the right side of Bay St were burnt up and smashed to bits, like a bulldozer paved right through them; they were all aflame. The scene looked like the footage and pictures of the Marina District after the Loma Prieta 1989 earthquake, but much worst.

The weeping willow near us along the pond was smashed into the ground, its upper branches paved into the grass near the pond's edge. The city bus that passed over Mitch's head was partially sticking out of the Presidio Community YMCA Letterman Gym, twisted at a right angle. Looking down Bay St, there were no houses left untouched, many no longer there but just open spots or piles of rubble. The street was littered with bits of houses, smashed military hardware, cars, bikes, street asphalt, and charred soldier bodies. There was a massive black column of smoke jetting just beyond the destruction, with other huge plumes of smoke coming from the streets it travelled along earlier. To our left in the distance, the creature was making its way for the north end of the Palace of Fine Arts via the pond, the smoke still coming off where the Fox-14 chopper crashed.

I got Pacifica's phone out of her pocket, dialed up some numbers, put it on speaker and waited a second, then an answer… "-really kinda busy right now, what do you nee-"

"WHERE IN THE SWEET FLYING FUCKING SHIT- HELL ARE YOU COLTON? DO YOU WANT US TO DIE?"

"Damn…sounds like you went through a war little boy."

"We might as well have. We hid in a manhole for Christ's sake man. We were under the creature's foot. Oh, also, there's not one point we didn't step in shit down there. HUMAN SHIT!"

"Kinda makes you appreciate Dirty Jobs, don't it?"

"…Look, just please tell me, are you anywhere near here yet?"

"Where's here, you mean by that big plume of smoke along Baker and Bay St? Camera guy said that placed got royally fucked up!"

"I know. We're around there right now. We saw it all happen."

"Alright James, I'm on Broderick and Filbert St, heading down Broderick right no-."

"Forget it Colton, you better get on Lyon St. Once you get past Chestnut St, you won't be able to drive on Broderick anymore."

I huffed, massively tired and hugely soar-throated. "We're by the fires going on the intersection of….didn't you get my message already? Jesus. Lyons and Bay St!"

"HEY, you try navigating this clusterfuck of a city right now, _**plus**_ getting your car jacked by a cop for [emergency reasons], _**plus**_ having to hardwire a stranger's Pathfinder. It ain't nothing like the movies man! You're lucky I'm gonna be there at all."

"Sorry, it's been a fucked day, just please try and get here. Sorry about your Camaro man…you're in a pathfinder?"

"It's a good car James. That or a stupid fucking humvee. I was thinking of getting you one when you turned 18."

"Look Colton, how about we meet you around the Presidio Letterman YMCA Gym. There's a bus sticking out of it, you can't miss it."

"Okay, I know where that is. Go hang out by the car garage entrance, just in case I can't get there, you'll be safe, it's concrete, thick and goes inwards a bit…you said there's a WHAT STICKING OUT OF THE GYM?"

"Love you Colton, see ya in a few minutes." I hung up.

"Oh James, do kiss and make up with your cousin. Especially when there's a fucking monster less than a few hundred feet away!" Midori shouted over mockingly.

"Shut up. We're hanging by the car garage near the gym over there. He knows where that is, so I'd say another few minutes. MAYBE."

"…and maybe in a few minutes that thing comes over this way while we're still waiting?" Pacifica said a little annoyed.

"We have another hole in the ground to crawl into, if we're lucky."

11:58am

We kept watch as we moved towards the gym over the Richardson Avenues. Several police cruisers, ambulances, military humvees and fire trucks came screaming down the motorway. One police car skidded left into Lyons St, right next to us, moving fast into the destroyed neighborhood along Bay St, narrowly avoiding an explosion from a once beautiful three-story home on the Lyons-Bay intersection.

We moved northwest up Gorgas Ave to the gym building and stopped by an entrance to the gym, which was locked. We settled by the bus stop for a moment. Midori's live footage kept showing static, but generally showed the creature moving slightly north parallel the Palace through the pond.

Mitch said "You know, isn't it ironic that there's a bent city bus sticking out of the other side of this building, and we're at a bus stop right now? These windows…yeah, you can see through them. There's part of the bus, right there."

"That is coincidental, pretty funny to me, in a dark way." Kono said.

"You know Kono, if that bus wasn't absolutely wrecked and on fire, possibly with dead people on it, then maybe I could see an iota of humor in that instance. I was just trying to draw up some corollary observations through circumstantial contexts, especially given our current predicament, and I hope to not brush the situation with any inappropriate comedic application." Mitch finished, and we all looked at him confused.

"Mitch, what the hell are you talking about?" Midori said, baffled.

"I didn't catch that at all" I said.

"USE EASY WORDS!" Kono enunciated

"Yeah, I'm gonna agree with them Mitch. I haven't a clue to what you said. Sounded something like the Wizard in Wizard of Oz, the way he just tried to sound smart with unnecessarily jumbled big words" Pacifica said.

Mitch huffed out and mumbled "I'm conversing with puerile imps!"

We moved over to the white entry booth at the main entrances of the car garage. Mitch still looked at the bus. I don't know why, but that attracted his attention.

"Mitch, you may want to come over here? With our luck today I don't want you getting crushed or blown up." I shouted over.

"Coming."

"Everyone, my feed's back on" Midori shouted. Her phone was working on-and-off for some reason. Technical issues I have no inkling on. We could still hear and feel the creature just northeast of us, maybe less than half a kilometer away, fifteen-hundred feet probably. Midori put the live video cam stuff on. We saw the creature turning towards the Palace.

"George, it looks like it's backtracking into the pond again, having just ravaged through the neighborhoods north of the pond and some along Marina Boulevard, and heading for the Palace." We saw it live making its way for the columns, then smashing the first pillars. It then lifted its right leg and drop-smashed right through the center of the famous Rotunda dome, causing the whole thing to collapse. It then barreled through the Theater complex, knocking down many other pillars and columns. We turned our heads to the direction of the destruction.

Then a column piece flew onto the gym building in front of us, smashing through the middle in a big heap of dust. Mitch was just peering through those windows at that same spot the chunk fell.

"James, I owe you my life. Another thirty seconds hanging out there and I would have been crushed."

"No worries buddy!"

"The most beautiful vestige of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, gone" Pacifica said, heartbreak in her voice. "You liked that place Pacifica?" I asked. "I had wonderful times there with my mother. It hurts to see it get wiped out."

"Hang on, if it just destroyed the Palace, where is it?"Kono asked.

"Oh shit!" Midori said. We looked at her phone. We could see ourselves on the live video, a small group of people huddled by an underground car garage entrance. Less than three hundred feet away, standing was the monster, moving towards us. We jumped up and saw its upper body, its axe head glaring over the horizon, then back to our direction.

"We're goners!" Midori mumbled. We inched a little inside the garage, just enough to be under the main concrete layer but enough to see the scenery. She and Mitch threw each other in their arms in a hug. Pacifica and I held hands, and Kono wrapped us all together. "If I'm about to die, I'm glad it's with you guys" Kono said. "Screw it, I'm not dying without doing this!" Midori shouted, and kissed Mitch square on the lips. Kono shouted "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW ALL ALONG!" Mitch kissed back, and then I kissed Pacifica. "I love you Pacifica, and I love all of you guys! YOU HEAR THAT YOU FUCKHEAD! NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME LOVING THESE PEOPLE, NOT EVEN DEATH!"

It didn't even notice us.

Kono yelled out "THIS IS IT! LET'S GET INSIDE THE GARAG-"

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARHGRHGHGHGAGAHAHHA!"

A first generation grey-black Nissan Pathfinder came barreling the wrong direction with its horn blasting on Gorgas Ave; skidding in a 180 degree rotation to a stop in front of us. The passenger door opened. Colton shouted at us "GET THE FUCK IN NOW! IT'S WALKING OVER HERE!"We packed in immediately. Mitch flipped over the backseats into the trunk area (only space he could fit in), Kono, Pacifica and Midori crowded the back seat, and I took shot-gun.

When we got in, Colton floored it. I looked back, and saw the gym building explode out in a cloud of debris, the creature's foot smashing into the area the column crashed into, the column flipping into the main car garage entrance where we just were. Colton slammed the gas to the first exit out of the park.

"IMPECIBLE TIMING AS EVER COLTON!" I shouted

"YOU'RE LUCKY I GOT HERE AT ALL-"

A military attack helicopter careened from out of nowhere and smashed into the middle of the Presidio YMCA Letterman Pool building, bringing with it a big explosion and part of the building onto the Lyons and Gorgas intersection. It rained a trail of fiery debris blocking off all those immediate exit points, the blades still rotating on the exits, our only exits.

"SHIT!" Colton yelled.

Colton reversed, passed the junipers, jumped the sidewalk, and onto the grass.

"COLTON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING" I yelled

"HOLD ON, ESPECIALLY YOU IN THE TRUNK! WE'RE OFF-ROADING!"

Colton meandered on the trails and grassy hill areas of the Letterman Digital Arts Center, driving erratically like hell to avoid the creature's oncoming steps. It was walking really fast right behind us to our right. I could see it move through the right side rear- view mirror. Colton turned south onto a trail adjacent to the Lucasfilm/LucasArts building. The creature smashed through it, sending bits of wood and debris our way, some of it looked like a bunch of Star Wars posters, the Han Solo Carbonite piece clipping the top of the pathfinder, a King Kong statute coming through the sunroof, the R2D2 suit smashing into the side of the pathfinder, and a Chewbacca statute coming right through the trunk windows and hitting Mitch's back.

"HOLY SHIT! STAR WARS STUFF!" Kono shouted.

"I GOT BEANED BY A DAMN CHEWBACCA FIGURE!"Mitch shouted in pain a.

Colton kept on the trail, speeding towards the four-way intersection of the trails. Several posters flew in a cloud of debris through my side of the window. Star Wars stuff was on fire flying on the ground nearby.

"FUCKIN-A" Midori shouted. Kono was gripping his seat with an iron grip, eyes black in fear. Mitch was holding onto Midori's hand while being tossed around in the trunk like a rag-doll, Midori looked like she had was holding her phone, poking it out of the vehicle and recording this. Mitch threw out the Chewbacca statute angrily. I was about to piss myself. Pacifica was looking over her shoulder at the destruction, gasping and trying not to have a panic attack.

A large section of industrial roof ventilation flew right over the pathfinder, clipping the hood and landing straight into the other two trail openings at the intersection. Colton slammed the breaks, narrowly avoiding a head-on with the wreckage. Colton turned the pathfinder around to the next trail, cut through some grass and drove onto the concrete path between the two buildings. The creature smashed from the first building into the adjacent one; we saw the walls cave in and the building pancake as we turned left onto Dewitt Rd. A Yoda Fountain figure went flying over the pathfinder into several parked cars by the Dixie Restaurant. More movie stuff puffed out of the damaged exposed stories. The creature moved from what was left of that building and turned left also, bulldozing right through the other building, smashed through the Dixie Restaurant area, moving faster than Colton was driving.

Colton drove through several bushes and between several small tree-lined crevices eastward for Lombard St. As Colton slammed the gas, the last building exploded outwards from the creature's arm swiping it, causing a bunch of the building to end up blocking the Lombard exit on Lyons. The creature then walked out the destroyed building in front of us. Colton slammed the breaks.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK! EVERY FUCKING TIME!" Colton shouted.

"BACK UP, BACK UP! FOLLOW LOMBARD WEST!" Pacifica shouted.

"- BETTER BE RIGHT ABOUT THIS BLONDY!"

"I'M ALWAYS RI-"

"FUCKIN BACK UP!" Everyone shouted. Its tail whipped in our direction, the very tip clipping off the pathfinder's front end bumper, the majority of its tail striking several abandoned cars and collapsing trees beyond the destroyed buildings.

Colton reversed up a hill, turned around and sped as fast as he could away from the creature. It was moving in the opposite direction now.

"We made it…HOLY SHIT WE MADE IT!" Colton yelled out. We were all sweating, Colton especially, trying to catch his breath. Then he swerved, scaring this shit out of us. Several cars started falling onto Lombard St from the air out of nowhere, Colton narrowly avoiding them. We looked out the glass-less trunk window. The creature looked like it walked through the Presidio Social Club and swiped its arms at parked cars, hence why they rained in our direction.

"…..well that sucked, a lot…ow my friggin shoulder!" Mitch yelped, still jostling in the back while rubbing his back with a cold pack from Colton's emergency kit..

"…NOW WE MADE IT! YOU'RE ALL FUCKING WELCOME!" Colton yelled out.

"YOU'RE THE BEST COUSIN OF ALL TIME, COUSIN." I gave him a fat kiss.

"Eh, ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! But I'll take a bunch of kisses from the ladies!" Colton said humorously.

"I'm going to ignore you said that and thank you for saving us….thank you, James' cousin." Midori said, emphasizing that last part.

"You want to know something funny? Took me three DMV driver's tests to get my license. FUCK YOU DMV, I'M A FUCKING AWESOME DRIVER! OUTRAN A MOTHERFUCKING MONSTER!"

"I GOT MY FEED BACK!" Midori shouted. I peered backwards. It was moving eastward now, opposite our direction of travel along the wreckage-laden Lombard St, moving onto Lyons, and proceeding to smash the Presidio Gate Apartments.

"-ust completely destroyed the letterman digital arts center complex George. We also saw in its path of destruction a vehicle, a truck or SUV driving away from it, like they were gallivanting with it or something. You have to either have a death wish or be insanely cerebrally deficient to get that close to this thing. More than six times that vehicle could have been crushed by the creature or the destruction it wrought. The creature is out of the Presidio and moving east into the Cow Hollow area."

Midori said "That camera guy is talking about us." She leaned into the radio and yelled "HEY DICKLOCK. WE WERE RUNNING AWAY, NOT GALIVANTING. BIG DIFFERENCE YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

We were gasping, but slowly returning to our normal breathing patterns. We cried a little, drenched in sweat, blood, dust, water, and a crap load of Star Wars memorabilia. Colton avoided parts of destroyed building spread on Lombard and turned left onto Presidio Blvd going south. Colton then elaborated on his plan. "In case you're wondering, were heading for my place around Mount Sutro, FAR AWAY from here. When we get there, I'm taking a shower, getting a bite, and relaxing for a few minutes. You guys call your parents and let them know you're with me, nice, safe and chalk-full of trauma. Put the news on and keep track of this thing…Also, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell your folks that the car ride they may have seen on TV was us. They don't need to be any more worried than they are now about your safety. We're going to hunker down and wait this out, eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and then we can continue with the harsh realities of our miserable lives. Sound like a plan? "

"I love it" Kono piped sarcastically.

"I _love_ Cinnamon Toast Crunch" Mitch and Pacifica said in unison.

We all agreed.

Midori leaned up to me and whispered, "Of course we won't _say_ a word. Pictures and video tell thousands of more words. I may accidently upload my video from our experiences with the tank and Presidio Park onto YouTube, and presto, online notoriety" and she winked at me.

"Midori, you were getting that all on camera, for some channel likes? Christ Midori, how could you even concentrate? We could have died."

"You know how that camera guy Carl was still filming over the Yacht before he died? It's hypnotic. Besides, it's good for people to know not to be near this thing. We have up-close and personal footage. It'll be on documentaries about this event. I'm contributing to history."

I said with as much enthusiasm as Ben Stein would put it "You're contributing to your own death and demise!"

Mitch chimed in "You know, I'd expect this kind of thing from Kono, not you Midori…ow my friggin coccyx" Mitch yelped. He was still being jostled in the back, bruised, aching and scratched, but otherwise okay. He didn't have the luxury of a seat belt like we did, and he still took it, for the sake of his value for our safety.

Pacifica leaned over to me "You've got strange friends James, you know that? Loyal and reliable, but strange."

"I know. Don't you love them for it?"

Pacifica went on "I also learned that this feels great."

I asked "What feels great?"

Pacifica leaned forward and kissed me. Having nearly died again for the umpteenth time, it felt really really good.

The Pathfinder was in shambles. Colton was surprised it was still running considering the beating it took from the chase.

Midori put her phone away. Kono stopped his fake puking of Pacifica and I's little interactions and was about to talk to Mitch and Midori. Midori leaned over to Mitch, who was trying to relax on the trunk floor with his jacket made into a puffy pillow for himself.

"DAMN, MY HEAD! Got any aspirin or Ibuprofen Midori? I have a splitting headache."

"Yes, I do. One second." Midori grabbed an Ibuprofen from her pack. She took out a couple pills, and put them in her mouth.

"Open up Mitch."

Mitch blushed, smiled a bit, and jarred his mouth open a little, and let Midori push them in his mouth with her mouth.

Mitch took a swig of water from his pack "It's the best medicine I've ever taken."

Kono complained. "You guys make me sick. Sucking face at a time like this?"

"I saved you little bastards, and all I get is a gay kiss from cousin cosmonaut over there? Hell, baby-hooey in the trunk is getting love" Colton grumbled.

Pacifica and I, and Midori and Mitch ignored them.

"Well, that makes me the fifth wheel now; this sucks." Kono said comically.

"Welcome to my world twink." Colton said sarcastically.

"WHY DO YOU ASSES CALL ME A TWINK?"Kono yelled.

"Don't worry Kono. You're not a twink." Mitch gurgled over.

"Thank you Mitch. At least someone in this vehicle has one iota of rational sense. I mean, seriously!" Kono said with a sense of dignity.

Mitch went on, "Yes. To be precise, you're an Asian Twink."

Everyone started laughing their ass off.

Kono laughed forcibly "FUCK EVERYONE IN THIS STUPID LOOKING VEHICLE!"

**BOOM!** We looked behind us. The tree line and fences blocked most of the view, but in the distance a massive explosion rattled the neighborhood. The explosion was enormous. Inside it we saw a dark figure, the creature probably, with jets soaring above it. Pacific got her phone out and looked up the live footage. The chopper angle was right over the explosion, trying to fly out of its vicinity.

"CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! George…George, the jets temporarily knocked it down on the neighborhood along Lombard and Broderick St, but when they did, it fell smack onto the Valero Gas Station. It must have exposed and ruptured the underground gas tanks. They shouldn't have fired at it again, that probably caused the massive fireball. Now the neighborhood surrounding the gas station is up in flames."

Pacifica kept her phone on, but put it to the side, just in case. We attempted to block the world out for a bit, too cool off. We've been through hell the last few hours, and just wanted some rest. She and I held hands again. Midori and Mitch held hands. Kono and Colton were talking about the next set of plans and their comical hatred for our amorous behaviors.

12:15pm

"Pacifica?"

"Yeah James?"

"We were originally going to the AMC Metreon Theater Complex today to see that new giant monster movie. I don't think that'll be happening any time soon, and I didn't have the nerve to ask you, but if we were still on, would you have liked to have gone with me?"

"….I think I'll say….Absolutely! I think now though I don't want to ever watch a monster movie, since, you know, we're living in the impossible scenario right now of a huge one attacking the city, and almost dying on a regular basis. Maybe Saving Mr. Banks if we make it out of here? "

"Thank you Pacifica, that means a lot."

"Hey James, when we get to Colton's place, you want to share a big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with me?"

"That sounds awesome!"


End file.
